Rise & Shine! Your Newport County guide for Dec. 7
Rise & Shine! I’m Scott Barrett, digital editor for The Daily News, and today is Dec. 7, the 341st day of the year — 24 days remain in 2021. On this day in 1941, a swarm of Japanese warplanes bombed the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in a surprise attack that left more than 2,400 people dead.
Here & Now
• The organization behind 11th Hour Racing is taking over the historic Swiss Village and the surrounding 43.3 acres from the Swiss Village Foundation after its sponsors paid a total of $8.65 million for the property.
The new operator of the land is called Ocean Hour Farm, represented by Rob MacMillan of Newport, who is the co-founder and president of 11th Hour Racing. Reporter Sean Flynn has a look at land purchase and what's next. Read his story here.
• According to the latest filing from the state Department of Revenue, Newport and surrounding communities experienced a solid September on the tourism front. In fact, it was the best September for at least a decade. Reporter Savana Dunning breaks down the numbers here.
• The U.S. Coast Guard in conjunction with local fire departments were searching for a person in the water in Narragansett Bay on Monday evening. According to multiple media reports, a woman fell off the Prudence Island ferry. We'll keep an eye on this developing situation today.
• Reporter Laura Damon has an update on the young pup that was left abandoned in Portsmouth on Thanksgiving, and got in touch with one of the officers who rescued the animal. Read her story here.
• The New England Patriots edged the Buffalo Bills 14-10 in some pretty nasty conditions in western New York. Kudos to Ann Chaffee, whose prediction of a 22-10 Pats victory was the closest we had. Thanks to everyone who emailed.
• Newport County is getting $4.35 million in funding through the Building Homes Rhode Island program for affordable housing projects, but don't expect to see people moving into new homes soon. Reporter Bethany Brunelle-Raja has the story.
• For the second straight year, COVID concerns have put the Newport Winter Festival on ice. The festival was scheduled to take place Feb. 14-23, but organizers pulled the plug because many of events were to be held indoors. Read more here.
• In his monthly From the Editor column, Will Richmond writes about hard news and the decisions that are made at The Daily News. In short, we want to provide depth and context in our coverage rather than just writing about a single meeting or regurgitating a press release. Read his column here.
• Sports reporter Steve Rogers has identified the best local players, who were named to the 2021 Newport Daily News all-county girls soccer team. Check it out here.
• Santa will begin his trek through Newport streets tonight. Check out the full schedule here.
• The average gas price in Rhode Island went down 2 cents from last week to $3.40 per gallon, according to AAA Northeast. That's the same price as it was a month ago, and $1.29 higher than it was a year ago. It's 5 cents higher than the national average.
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Born today
C. Thomas Howell (actor), 55
Larry Bird (athlete), 65
Tom Waits (musician), 72
Weather report
Low tides: 2:46 a.m., 3:56 p.m.
High tides: 9:55 a.m., 10:24 p.m.
Sunrise: 6:56 a.m. Sunset: 4:16 p.m.
Water temperature: 52.5 degrees.
Municipal meetings
Newport
Trust & Investment Commission, 8 a.m.
Canvassing Authority, 11:30 a.m.
Tiverton
Planning Board, 6:30 p.m.
Litter Committee, 6:30 p.m.
Tax Assessment Board of Review, 7 p.m.
Jamestown
Fire Department, 7 p.m.
Local obituaries
Today is …
National Letter Writing Day
National Cotton Candy Day
World Trick Shot Day
Trivia Tuesday
As mentioned above, the Newport Winter Festival won't be held this year because of COVID concerns. The event got its start in 1989 under this slightly different title. In 1991, it was changed (perhaps because another event with the same name already existed). What was the original name? Send guesses to sbarrett@newportri.com.
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This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Rise & Shine! Your Newport County guide for Dec. 7
